I love lasagna. In fact, paired with a salad and maybe a pot of soup, I consider lasagna a super good, super easy family meal. It is a casserole, after all!

Not one to boil my lasagna noodles, I also am not one to go in for the overpriced, too thin “no-boil” noodles sold in most supermarkets today. Lasagna is rich and hearty fare and I feel the thin no-boil noodles kind of undermine the intentional heaviness of the dish. But I sure as heck don’t want to boil noodles when I don’t even boil my sauce.

So what to do?

Two syllables: Pre-soak.

I count out the noodles needed for a lasagna, throw them in a baking tray and cover with water. It doesn’t even have to be warm water, but that would speed up the process a bit. Just don’t take warm water from the tap. Yucko! It picks up all sorts of pipe debris and that isn’t pretty.

Soak the noodles about an hour and a half and you will have nice, pliable pasta. This pre-soak business isn’t just for lasagna! If you are concerned about your carbon footprint and want to cut back on stove top time, pre-soaking all your pasta will surely reduce the fuel costs for a pot of pasta.

Many vegetarians opt for Italian during the holiday season because practically everyone can relate to it–meat eaters and vegetarians alike. Italian eats are familiar and filling without any sort of pretense. At least the kind I like to cook up.

I hope this is helpful to anyone out there who thinks lasagna is a royal pain in the pignoles.